


A Caution Tale

by worddancer



Category: Little Red Riding Hood (Fairy Tale), Little Red Riding Hood - All Media Types, Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Ruby Is a BAMF, The Wolf - Freeform, about the little red riding hood story?, feminist character study, what would Ruby think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-01-28
Packaged: 2018-05-16 20:09:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5839330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worddancer/pseuds/worddancer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They called her a caution tale.</p><p>Something to tell little girls to trick them into behaving, into keeping their heads down and their legs shut.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Caution Tale

**Author's Note:**

> Th thought crossed my mind the other day while I was watching TV. I wondered what the fairy tale characters would think about how we tell their stories in this world. 
> 
> For those who don't know the story of Little Red Riding Hood was actually super creepy and super sexual. The red of her cape was for her period which marked her as a woman and in tavern stories she would strip before climbing in bed with the wolf.
> 
> I though Ruby might have a few issues with being turned into a caution tale.

They called her a caution tale.

Something to tell little girls to trick them into behaving, into keeping their heads down and their legs shut. 

Girls are innocent until their clothes bleed red. 

Listen to your parents, don’t stray from the path they set you down. If you get into trouble someone else will save you.

You can’t save yourself. 

Her red cloak showed how she lost her innocence to the wolf. 

They got that part right at least. They just mixed up the location. The wolf wasn’t outside, the wolf was her. She was anything but innocent. 

Keep your head down, your legs shut and listen to your elders. 

The wolf never ate her grandmother. Peter never saved her and if she only had known she would have listened. 

But they didn't tell her.

They didn't tell her about the terrible and beautiful power inside of her. They didn't tell her that she was strong. They didn't tell her that with power, with strength, comes responsibility. They didn't tell her that a wolf could both save her and damn her. They didn't tell her that for a woman salvation and damnation were constant bed mates. 

They told her to stay inside.

They told her to be a good girl.

They told her to not kiss the boy behind the barn. They told her she couldn’t save anyone, not even herself. They told her to wait- someone else would save her. They would take care of it.

She had to wear her cloak and do nothing. 

She wanted to be more. 

More than her grandmother’s granddaughter. More than the pretty girl in the red cloak. More than the girl who kissed the boy behind the barn. More than the girl who waited while the men searched for the wolf.

She didn’t want to be the wolf. She didn’t think she could be the wolf. The girl who was to sit quietly, listen to her elders and keep her legs shut couldn’t be powerful. She couldn’t be scary. She couldn’t be dangerous. She couldn’t even be. Waiting to become wasn’t being anything- it was waiting. 

She was tired of waiting. She wanted to prove she was more. She could be more than the girl in the red cloak who was trapped in her bedroom when the sun went down. She followed the tracks and who else was she supposed to suspect?

After all she could only wait. She couldn’t be the villain, she couldn’t save the day. She couldn’t have any power, she couldn’t be anything. This was supposed to be her chance to prove that she could be more. Could be doesn’t mean is. She was a girl trying to prove herself- she didn’t have power yet. 

She didn’t know.

Because she was never told. 

She was a caution tale, just not the way her story was told in this world.

They took her story and turned her red cloak into her monthly blood, they turned the wolf into a dirty story to be told in bars. They created her into a naked girl who climbed in bed with the wolf. They turned her into a way for the church to tell little girls to listen and stay innocent. If they strayed off the path, if they let the wolf take off their cloak, they’d be eaten too. They wouldn’t be able to save themselves, they had to wait for the huntsmen. 

They took her story and stripped it down. They twisted her words and offered them back up in their warped form. She twisted them back to suit herself. 

Question everything. If they tell you that you don’t have any power look at them and say you see their lies. If they tell you to be quiet and sit inside grab your cloak and walk out the door singing loudly. If they tell you to keep your legs shut, kiss the boy behind the barn. 

Because people will lie to you. They will tell you that you don’t have power. They will tell you that you can’t make your own choices with your own body. 

Laugh at them. Tell them you know the wolf inside of you. Tell them you will shed your cloak if you need to. Tell them you will not sit down, you will not listen when told to be quiet. Demand they tell you the truth so you can make your own choice. 

When they try to hide your wolf from you the boy you kissed behind the barn dies. 

The wolf is not only her right but also her responsibility.

She took her caution tale and she made it her strength.


End file.
